Answers
4

There are so many quotes dealing with fear and weakness, that these were actually hard to track down. I hope they help.

“Right then, with the shore so close, I understood that I would not do what I should do. I would not swim away from my hometown and my country and my life. I would not be brave. That old image of myself as a hero, as a man of conscience and courage, all that was just a threadbare pipe dream.” (Page 57)

“True war stories do not generalize. They do not indulge in abstraction or analysis. For example: War is hell. As a moral declaration the old truism seems perfectly true, and yet because it abstracts, because it generalizes, I can’t believe it with my stomach. Nothing turns inside. It comes down to gut instinct. A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe.” (Page 78)

Source(s)

The Things They Carried

Answered by
allie w #345786
on 11/15/2013 4:39 PM

Wait, what quotes? From the novel, or in general?

Answered by
jesus r #351112
on 12/19/2013 5:43 PM

There are so many quotes dealing with fear and weakness, that these were actually hard to track down. I hope they help.

“Right then, with the shore so close, I understood that I would not do what I should do. I would not swim away from my hometown and my country and my life. I would not be brave. That old image of myself as a hero, as a man of conscience and courage, all that was just a threadbare pipe dream.” (Page 57)

“True war stories do not generalize. They do not indulge in abstraction or analysis. For example: War is hell. As a moral declaration the old truism seems perfectly true, and yet because it abstracts, because it generalizes, I can’t believe it with my stomach. Nothing turns inside. It comes down to gut instinct. A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe.” (Page 78)